I purchased a lever action .22 Henry for my step-son in 2003 while stationed in AZ, the store i purchased it from is no longer in business.

While stationed in Ca he turned 18 and i gave it to him to keep when he moved out of the house. He moved in with his father, left the rifle there and moved to Co. I have just learned that his father is claiming his apartment was broken into and all of his guns were stolen, including the Henry. It was never registered with the great state of Ca. I have left military service but do have a job with a security clearance, should i be concerned? how to find the seriel number of a rifle i purchased almost ten years ago. What is the path forward? Sloppy housekeeping on my part for not having the seriel number on hand and not transfering ownership when he turned 18.

Thank you.

p.s. My wife and I do not believe it was stolen but rather that he sold it as he did not file a police report AT ALL, and has done similar things before.

The only time it will come up is if the gun is found by police and the serial number is submitted to the ATF. The ATF will then run a trace, which will direct them to the records of the shop from which you purchased it.

This is where it gets tricky. The shop is out of business, which means the records were boxed up and sent to a warehouse in West Virginia. The trace would take quite a bit longer in a situation like that.

Long story short, getting the serial number is going to be quite an ordeal.

That said, even if the gun were recovered by law enforcement, you'd get a phone call from the ATF to let you know it's been recovered. At that point, you may have the option of getting it back.

As it stands, you legally gifted it to your stepson 9 years ago, and his father lost it. The only time this could possibly be an issue for you is if there was suspicion that you knowingly provided it to a criminal. That's not the case here.

__________________
Sometimes it’s nice not to destroy the world for a change.
--Randall Munroe

There's no registration of long guns in California (yet). However, under California law, the rifle should have been transferred by you to your step-son through a California FFL. But it's too late to do anything about that now.

On the other hand, a theft of a firearm needs to be reported promptly. That wouldn't have been your responsibility. It would have been the father's.

If your suspicions are correct, the rifle is probably gone forever.

I suspect that this will be closed chapter in everyone's life.

__________________
"It is long been a principle of ours that one is no more armed because he has possession of a firearm than he is a musician because he owns a piano. There is no point in having a gun if you are not capable of using it skillfully." -- Jeff Cooper

My gun return adventure went okay... 11 years after the burglary, I got a letter from the city PD stating they may have property belonging to me. Turned out they ran the numbers on MY Mossberg and found the name of BG who lost it due to AG ASSAULT charge did not match and my name was cross referenced and found I described such a gun in theft report...

I got lucky that the FFL had gone under or no such record would have been in ATF custody...

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